Havent seen much on this camera but it seems to have a pretty good spec. Im looking to replace my lumix zs3. Guess the million dollar question is how it will perform low light, high iso. Cant believe this camera supports raw - but will adobe pick it up??

Hi I have had the F500 which is identical bar a few bits and pieces for 3 months now and am more than happy with it for a p&s. The IQ is good and I really love the Macro. Prices have come down a lot and I would deffo recommend it.

Bikerag - The 550-EXR uses the same 16Mpix 1/2.0" EXR sensor as the HS20-EXR.

Both have the ability in EXR-mode to "pair" the receptors and work as an 8Mpix camera for low-light and faster continuous shooting.

There are some "issues" regarding this about the HS20 - I haven't seen that mentioned re the 550 on the Fuji Forums.

Both have JPEG / RAW / RAW+JPEG abilities. As they use the same sensor - they might have the same RAF RAW file-type. As with the HS10, there might be a delay before Adobe can run it - the Silkypix software on the camera's CD hasn't been too good in the past.

For those using Linux, DCRAW already lists the Fuji HS20 RAF-RAW, so all apps calling DCRAW will handle that as soon as you update DCRAW from your Repos. As noted - I don't know if the 550-EXR RAFs are the same, but suspect they are.

Apparently Fuji has tried to move the slightly larger sensor - than 1/2.3" - from the S200EXR-etc family of shorter zoom cameras into these later models.

I've had the Fuji HS10 for about a year - and apart from not being too happy in Auto or Program modes - it's way-far more responsive and functional in Shutter Priority and full Manual in particular - it works very well.

The HS10 was the start of the new series - with 10Mpix on a 1/2.3" BSI-CMOS sensor.

You DO have to "tell it what to do" - letting the "camera decide" isn't getting best results. Example in Shutter Priority - don't be scared to push the ISO up to 400 or 800, to get Shutter speed up to 1/500th or more - low-light and higher-ISO abilities are quite good for a P&S. ISO-1600 is usable if you shoot RAW - it cleans-up quite well.

The HS10 has quite fast Continuous shooting - up to (quoting site reviews after the second firmware update, 1.02) - 12.5/13.2fps at full resolution JPEG. The HS20 / 550 do full resolution at 8fps, and M-Medium at 11fps.

With the ISO issues above 400, and lesser low-light abilities, in the HS20, and the "reported as awkward" EXR modes - possibly related to cramming 16Mpix onto the 1/2.0" sensor - that is, 45% more receptor density on a 7% larger sensor - I'm giving the HS20 a miss...

The HS10 wasn't an easy camera to learn to get good results with - and it certainly has its "Fuji-isms" - but from what I'm seeing from the HS20 on the Fuji forums - the HS10 does as well - and marginally better in the 25-30x zoom range.

Keeping the zoom to 15x in the 550EXR - might have been a smart move with that new 1/2.0" sensor - that's similar to the earlier S-etc series EXRs.

- Those interested in getting a lot of Zoom-reach at a rather modest price - about $350.00 - might look at Fuji's S4000 - it seems to use the HS10 type 30x lens assembly - but with a 1/2.3" CCD, at 14Mpix. The 35mm-equiv is 24-720mm.